Toy horse and dog



INVENTOR. [774 M. BZEFCKEIQ Arrow/5 Patented Nov. 16, 1943 2,334,472 TOY, HORSE AND DOG Etta M. Bleeckei',v Massapequa, N. Y.

Application March 29, 1943, Serial No. 480,890

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a toy horse and dog, and is herein illustrated as embodied in a rocking horsewhich is coordinated with a toy dog so that as the horse rocks the dog partly leaps up and the toy gives the barking of a. dog.

The modern child wants activity, including action by the child, movement of devices which the child can see and (preferably) touch, and

accompanying coordinated noise. Many attempts toward such toys are in the form of wagons or two-wheeled trucks which the child draws or pushes by a handle and in which a bell is rung by vibration of the toy as it rolls along a rough surface. Children delight in placin a doll in such a wagon and removing it.

Such toys have their places but lack some of the most valuable educational and interesting features of a complete toy. There is no coordination of the doll with .an adventure. There is no coordination of the noise made by the bell with any other event. There is no imaginable mental reaction by the doll with the noise of the bell.

According to the present invention the lacking features of current toys are vividly supplied to interest the child.

In the form of the invention illustrated below the child is provided with a rocking horse straddled by the pivoted legs 58 of a doll i9. I The horse is shown as carrying a saddle 20 with a peak 2| at the back,- so that a releasable holding strap 22 may pass around the doll and be held in an eye 23 on the peak 2 i.

The head 2d of the horse is shown as carrying a bridle 25 which includes reins 23 adapted to be releasably engaged with the dolls pivoted arms 21 by being caught around and under the wrists 28 of the doll arms 21. The dolls legs 28a may releasably fit in stirrups 28b.

on which the child may. seat at will a doll, the

child when rocking the horse sees a dog jumping up behind it, and hears the barking of a dog. Thus all the factors needed for every desired sense-impression are present and fully satisfled, or any of them at will.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

Inthe accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in section, showing one formof the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary similar view on a larger scale showing the parts in a later stage of operation;

Fig. 3 shows an alternative mounting for the horse.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, a figure of a horse [0 is shown mounted on a near rocker II and a far rocker II, with its spaced fore legs 13, only one being seen, toward one end I4, but spaced from that end, of the rockers II and I2, and wlth'its spaced rear legs l5 towards but spaced from, the opposite end it of the rockers II and I2. The rockers are spaced enough to give desired stability.

The body of the horse may be of any thickness,

The horse, carrying the doll i9, is adapted to rock with the rockers H and I2 to which its legs are fixed or bolted, and is diagrammatically shown as power-driven by a device including an arm 29 pivoted on the inside of rocker 12 by a bolt 30. The arm 29, as shown in Fig. 1 lies almost on the floor- 3i on which the ro kers roll and to the rear of the doll, so that the tooth 52 of a spring driven star wheel 33 lifts the tooth it of the forked end of the arm 29, so as to turn the arm around its pivot 30. This turning of the arm 29 causes the long arm 35 to press against the floor, rocking the horse forward.

When the tooth 32 releases the tooth 34 the next tooth of the star wheel 33 turns until it catches on the outer face 36 of the second tooth 31 of the forked end and it is cammed along on that almost without turning until the end 35 of the arm 29 is nearly at the rocker again when the star wheel tooth escapes past that tooth 3! and catches on the tooth 34, this action taking place while the horse is rocking rearwardly.

The foregoing drive is illustrated merely because simple, and-any suitable'drive may be substituted if it is also suitable to drive the barking mechanism, to be described below.

The drive is shown as a spring 38 attached or anchored in the housing 39 of the drive mechanism, and attached to a winding post 40 which, by a pawl, not shown, drives the pinion 4!. The pinion 4|! meshes with a drive pinion M fastened to the shaft 43 of the drive star wheel 33, and thus drives the star wheel.

In the form shown the rocking of the horse causes a' dog to jump up toward the horse. To effect this a dog having a body 43 and outstretched spaced fore legs 4-4 is connected by a. link 45 pivoted between its fore legs 44 to the inside of one of the rockers, or preferably to the inside of a leg l5 of the horse, so that, as the horse rocks forward, the link pulls the dog upwardly and forwardly, with the result thatthe child sees a dog jumping up and apparently but, preferably thick enough to be realistically o5 chasing the horse.

The vividness of jumping may be heightened by pivoting the rear legs 46 of the dog near the tall at 41 and inserting a spring 48 which will hardly hold the legs up. As the legs 46 turn on their pivots 41 they have a limited throw so that they never stand straight up or lie flat. The limited throw is diagrammatically shown by a stop 49, and both fore legs 44 and rear legs 46 are spaced to give stability to the dog as it jumps.

The rear feet 41 of the dog may rest on rubber ends 58, or other material that does not slip easily, thus aiding the jumping action.

To facilitate moving or packing the device, the link 45 is shown as including a hook 50 with a. fairly long end |,which is easily hooked intoor released from an eye 52 on the rocker or leg which forms the pivot for the link 45.

In the form shown, the device includes a device for emitting sounds of a dog barking as the dog jumps up. The barking device may be of any desired form which may be commercially procurable. It is hereinidiagrammatically illustrated as including "a phonograph disc 53 (with a circular-instead of spiral groove) within the housing 39, which generates the sound and delivers it by a tone arm 54 through a loud speaker horn 55, opening out of one side of the housing 39. I

For simplicity a drive mechanism for the, disc 53 is shown as boxed at 56, and driven from speed of the shaft 43, if a phonograph type of barking device is used.

If desired the horse may be mounted on a pair of rods or platform 59 which supports the case 51 carrying a phonograph and drive, and

the dog with legs 44 merely trails behind at the end of the link 45, as the horse rolls on its wheels 58.

Having thus described one form of the invention in some detail, what is claimed is:

1. The combination with a rocking horse of a dog device adapted to jump, a device linking the dog device to the rocking horse to cause it to jump, a device emitting a barking sound, and connections whereby the barking device is operated in unison with t he jumping of the dog and moving horse.

2. The combination with a rocking horse of a dog device, a releasable hook connecting the horse to the .dog so that the dog jumps at the rocking of the horse, a barking device adapted to emit a barking sound, and a power drive for the horse adapted to drive the rocking horse and jump the dog and drive the barking device in coordination with each other.

ETTA M. BLEECKER, 

